The present invention relates to automated inspection systems and methods, and more particularly to automated inspection systems and methods for fiber optic connectors and cards.
Analyzing fiber optic connector end faces for defects is required to effectively weed out those connectors and fiber optic cards that may not deliver acceptable performance to those who use them. With the abundant quantity of multi-fiber fiber optic connectors and fiber optic cards using such connectors being manufactured, there exists a need for a system and method for quickly inspecting a number of connector ends and determining those that are defective.
Traditionally, a camera or a microscope individually magnifies and focuses on each connector end. This is the case for connectors in a polishing fixture as well as those installed in a housing on a fiber optic card, for example. An individual then either manually, or by use of a computer program, picks out particular defects. The time it takes to center the image, focus, inspect the image and then manually center a new connector end, and then focus and inspect the image makes the inspection process very tedious and time consuming, especially when inspecting large numbers of connector ends.
Therefore, a need exists to be able to automatically inspect a number of connector ends with little human intervention.
The present invention advantageously addresses the above and other needs.